In providing electrical circuits to a facility, such as a home, a power receptacle includes one or more outlet receptacles hardwired to a supply, such as a 120 volt AC supply. Typically, the outlet receptacle is hardwired to a breaker or fuse panel so that electric power is always present at the outlet receptacle. A load device can then be controlled according to whether or not it is plugged into the outlet receptacle. Alternatively, if the load device includes its own switch, then it can remain plugged into the outlet receptacle and the device switch used to turn the device on or off.
With some load devices, such as a lamp, it is often desirable to turn the lamp on when one enters a room where the lamp is located. This cannot normally be done with the above described circuit. To satisfy this desire, the outlet receptacle may be wired to the supply through a wall switch. The lamp switch is left in the on position. The lamp is thus turned on or off by controlling the wall switch to selectively apply power to the lamp via the outlet receptacle.
To accomplish both of the above in a single power receptacle, dual outlet receptacles are available in which each outlet receptacle is separately wired. Within each room, one outlet receptacle of each pair may be hardwired directly to a hot circuit, while the other outlet receptacle of the pair is wired to the wall switch. This allows devices such as lamps to be positioned in different parts of a room to be controlled from the wall switch, while also allowing other devices such as radios or the like to be located in different positions in the same room to be controlled individually.
It is clear that different wiring techniques can be used to satisfy virtually any desire. However, once the hard wiring is actually made, then it can prove quite difficult and expensive to change the configuration. For example, it might be necessary to replace a power receptacle or change wiring to the power receptacle in order to change its operation.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above in a novel and simple manner.